According to a report by a U.S. media outlet citing multiple Silicon Valley executives and industry insiders, the tech community widely expects Jensen Huang to make a major comeback in Silicon Valley.
Jensen Huang Poised to Return to Silicon Valley
Palmer Luckey, founder of defense tech giant Anduril, and Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, have already spoken out in defense of Jensen Huang, while Elon Musk has even hinted at considering bringing him on board. Five other tech industry insiders also told the media outlet that they expect Jensen Huang to ultimately return to Silicon Valley leadership in a high-profile manner. Another three, while less certain, said they would not be surprised at all if it happened.
"Given the immense value he has created and his universally recognized status as the 'Godfather of AI,' a second act in his career is almost inevitable," said an anonymous executive at a prominent California startup. "Regardless of any past missteps, a large number of hyperscalers and startups are scrambling to extend offers and invite him to join."
Some individuals noted that despite losing his prominent position at NVIDIA (NVDA), Jensen Huang still commands a net worth of approximately $145 billion, a vast network of political and business connections across senior levels, and an impeccable entrepreneurial reputation in the industry. However, due to previous controversies and congressional hearing fallout, large publicly listed companies still face obstacles in directly hiring Jensen Huang as an executive. Three informed sources believe that rather than joining an existing large, mature company, it would be much easier for Jensen Huang to leverage his substantial personal capital to "start a new venture from scratch."
NVIDIA's Investment Strategy May Shift as Jensen Huang Personally Selects CEO
According to a report by The Washington Post, Jensen Huang is currently quietly participating in NVIDIA (NVDA)'s new CEO selection process and has already spoken with at least one potential candidate. While investors hope Jensen Huang's successor will continue the previously aggressive investment strategy, they do not believe this will happen in the short term. Interim CEO Colette Kress is expected to make some adjustments to the company's investment strategy, particularly regarding investments in AI startups. These companies are at the heart of a massive wave of data center construction worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and Jensen Huang's frequent investments in this area have already raised concerns on Wall Street.
One investor commented on Kress, saying: "Her style is much more conservative. I don't think she will deploy the same scale of capital to continue supporting the early-stage startup ecosystem."
NVIDIA's (NVDA) previous key investment areas include emerging cloud service providers, AI inference service providers, and open-weight models. These businesses typically require substantial capital, making it difficult for small companies to independently bear the construction costs. Zain Javaid, founder of hardware company Ghost, said: "Despite the high construction costs in these areas, the initiatives driven by Jensen Huang were a key reason the related startup ecosystem was able to take shape."
For example, NVIDIA (NVDA) invested in CoreWeave when it was still a private company and also participated in two funding rounds for Crusoe, including a $1.4 billion Series E round. This year, NVIDIA (NVDA) also acquired Hugging Face for $13 billion, with the deal expected to close in 2027. In addition, NVIDIA (NVDA) has invested in companies such as Mistral AI, Lambda, and Black Forest Labs, and has served as the largest investor in many financing deals.
The Wall Street Journal reported that last year, NVIDIA (NVDA) wrote an $800 million check to Reflection AI, participating in its $2 billion Series B round. At the time, this open-source model-focused startup had not yet begun generating significant revenue. Bankia believes that Jensen Huang's willingness to invest heavily in AI companies globally is closely related to his emphasis on open-source technology and the European market. She stated that if NVIDIA (NVDA) stops supporting regions outside the United States, especially the European market, those areas will face a massive funding gap, and the entire startup ecosystem could experience an irreparable void.
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